Forty Black-owned businesses, a roller rink, a bowling alley and a museum of East Austin's business history are all converging under one roof this Saturday. Black Outside Fest takes place at the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex on October 24, running free with RSVP from noon to 6 p.m., with shopping, skating, food, films and family-friendly activities packed into the six-hour run.
Black Makers Market is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Austin native Ericka Barnes to help Black-owned businesses grow and succeed, according to KEYE. Barnes and the organization's director of operations and data strategy, Kafele Wimbley, joined the station's We Are Austin segment to discuss the festival and the broader push to preserve the history of Black-owned businesses in the city. Barnes, whose family has lived in East Austin since emancipation, launched the market's first in-person event in 2019 at the African-American Cultural Heritage Facility, as EASTside Magazine has reported.
This year's event includes a heritage museum featuring historical photographs and biographies of business owners from historically Black East Austin, along with stories of entrepreneurs who helped build the community and how the neighborhood changed over time. Local Black documentarians have also contributed films about longtime community members and their businesses, part of the station's report on the festival's lineup. A merchandise shop tied to Black Makers Market will sell t-shirts alongside additional historical information about the community.
Why East Austin Carries the Weight of This History
The heritage programming is not incidental. East Austin became the epicenter of the city's Black population after Austin's 1928 Master Plan legally segregated the city, denying municipal services and infrastructure like sewer lines to Black residents who lived outside a designated six-square-mile “Negro District,” according to Austin PBS. A 2022 historical analysis by the Retelling Central Texas History project estimated that the land dispossession policies tied to that plan cost Black residents more than $290 million in lost property value outside East Austin.
Those historic losses have compounded in recent decades. Gentrification and rising living costs have reshaped where Austin's Black residents live, while surrounding Travis County suburbs like Pflugerville have seen Black population growth. Economic barriers persist for the businesses that remain.
Shopping, Skating and Barbecue Under One Roof
Vendors at the festival will sell bath and body products, skincare, seasonings, lemonade and handmade goods, with Wimbley emphasizing to KEYE the value of shopping directly from small business owners and building relationships with the people making the products. Food will come from Distant Relatives and Wayne's Caribbean Kitchen.
Beyond vending, attendees can access free skating with RSVP, bowling, film screenings and other affordable activities inside the Millennium.
A Nonprofit Built Around Business Survival
Black Makers Market's mission extends well beyond the festival weekend. The nonprofit provides educational resources, business development content, and free or low-cost entrepreneur workshops year-round, a service Barnes says delivers digital resources and training to help Black business owners grow. The event is supported in part by public municipal funding through Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment, connecting the grassroots nonprofit to the city's broader cultural grantmaking.
For Barnes, the festival carries a personal dimension as well. She told We Are Austin that she enjoys showing her children what it can look like to be their full selves in Austin, a sentiment that threads through a festival built as much around heritage preservation as commerce. Visitors can RSVP for free tickets at blackmakersmarket.org, and full festival details, vendors and activities are listed at blackoutsideaustin.com.
